The White House press corps actually did its job today and asked Press Secretary Jay Carney to show us President Obama's plan to raise the debt ceiling.
Things got interesting as Carney danced around the fact that Obama has failed to propose a plan to raise the debt ceiling. Carney spent 10 minutes trying to explain why they can't release a plan. Watch Carney try to explain it all away:
It took the White House press long enough to ask Carney the "tough" question. Why couldn't the question have been asked sooner in this process? There were plenty of opportunities along the way.
The House passed Cut, Cap and Balance to address Obama's debt ceiling crisis. President Obama promised to veto it if the Senate should give it an up or down vote and actually pass it. The statement promising to veto Cut, Cap and Balance Act asserts that Obama has "proposed a comprehensive and balanced framework" to raise the debt ceiling. So why can't Carney show us the plan?
Speaker Boehner, despite Obama's veto threat, continued to discuss a deal to increase the debt ceiling with Obama. Instead of closing the deal, Obama blows it up by asking for another 400 billion in "additional tax revenues." Boehner finally says enough and ends the discussions with Obama.
Boehner carries on and attempts to make a deal with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. President Obama, with his approvals tanking, insists that any deal to increase the debt ceiling must extend the limit past the 2012 presidential campaign. That effectively kills any bipartisan plan to increase the debt ceiling.
Boehner and Reid propose separate last minute plans to raise the debt ceiling. The President endorses the Reid smoke and mirrors plan and threatens to veto Boehner's two stage plan.
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